God, I love Jeremy Renner. I find him incredibly sexy, probably because the little guy has some mystique about him. He got his biggest break when he was 38 years old (The Hurt Locker), and since then, he’s been surprisingly good at managing his press. You hear the gay rumors about him all the time, but that hasn’t deterred from his “butch” image. When boyish man-children are invading superhero costumes as far as the eye can see, it’s dudes like Jeremy and Jon Hamm taking the “Real Man” mantle. Renner is grizzled. Renner is sun-damaged. Renner knows how to fix your car and refinish your floors. I would imagine that he would know how to clean your pipes, too. Speaking of, Renner covers the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter – you can read the full article here. He’s promoting his part in the new Jason Bourne film (The Bourne Legacy) as well as The Avengers. Here are some highlights from the piece:

Money stuff: Even though Hurt Locker was gaining steam at the time, Renner received a mere six-figures for Avengers (he also did a cameo in Thor), but will get more if Marvel exercises its option to star him in up to six other films. As for Bourne, if Renner continues with the franchise (he’s agreed to two more films), the $5 million he received for Legacy will zoom to an asking price of $10 million-plus — and might reach as much as the $20 million Matt Damon received for the series’ most recent outing in 2007.

The gay rumors: For Renner, Internet speculation already has centered around whom he’s dating (everyone from Jessica Simpson to Scarlett Johansson, if you believe the tabs) to his sexual orientation. “I want my personal life to be personal, and it’s not f—ing true,” he says of the suppositions. “And I don’t care if you’re talking about things that are true, you’re still talking about my personal life. How about I go peek in your window, take what underwear you wore last night, whose husband you were f—ing, and shove that in the megaphone throughout your neighborhood? How does that feel?”

His past relationships (with women): As to his long-term involvements, he says he had one five-year relationship with a woman while in his 20s and another that ended two years ago after 4 1⁄2 years. He met that girlfriend, Jes Macallan — who, as her Twitter account reveals, married actor Jason Gray-Stanford (Monk) on March 17 — when she was 23 and working at a film festival in Florida; subsequently, she decided to go into acting. “That was part of the issue,” says Renner. “I was going through the Hurt Locker campaign and she’s like, ‘Where do I get headshots?’”

That Thailand knife-fight: “It was a silly, tragic accident that happened to this guy,” explains Renner, noting that he had gone to Phuket for a break when an acquaintance made a comment and “got attacked in a bar fight at 4 in the morning. He was saying stuff, and 20 people jumped on him. I was in flip-flops. I don’t do bar fights. Did he deserve to get stabbed and almost murdered by 20 people? F— no.” (Six local men were arrested.)

Crazy Christmas story: Renner tells the story of how, on Christmas Eve a few years back, when he was with his family in a bar, “This guy chokes me with the scarf I was wearing. He called me a fag ’cause I was wearing a scarf! Then he shoved my sister and I got behind him and I choked him out — put him to sleep.”

Hesitating before taking the role in The Bourne Legacy: “It was a game-changer in anonymity,” he says. “I had to consider how this was going to affect everyone I love — especially myself. The star thing, the celebrity thing is new to me. I don’t want to be a good celebrity, a good f—ing star. I want to be a good human being.”

Advice from Tom Cruise: Renner prepared intensely for The Avengers, training for six weeks in hand-to-hand combat and Filipino stick-fighting and keeping in mind the advice Tom Cruise gave him while making Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol: “Since you are doing all your stuff, there is no second string and you have to do due diligence not to get injured.”

On-set injuries: On Bourne, “I got injured kicking a table and missing and hyper-extending my leg! I had to get an MRI.” He also hurt his arm, which “will be f— ed up for a while. I can’t really grab anything” with one hand. Ditto on Avengers. “He’s an amazing fighter — his fight work is wonderful: precise, heroic, and you seldom have to double him,” says director Joss Whedon. “But one day he just turned wrong and his whole body shut down. He could not do anything. He was in enormous pain, and we had to shut that sequence down and shoot it a couple of weeks later.”

He may do Broadway, but only if he doesn’t get cast opposite Michael Fassbender: The actor may do a run on Broadway of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with his Avengers co-star Johansson, but only if Ridley Scott doesn’t hire him for his upcoming The Counselor.

His poor dead puppy: In March, Renner’s 8-month-old French bulldog, Franklin, died of a heart attack. For a moment, Renner’s eyes go moist because the puppy touches on the singular problem that has most bedeviled him the past two years. Says Renner, “He was my solution for being so lonely.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

See? He seems like a nice guy. I like the “I don’t do bar fights” line – it speaks to his emotional maturity. And he’s not gay! Hopefully. Probably. Definitely? Sure. Whatever, I’m buying it. I think he’s into girls, big time. I think he talks about loneliness and he uses those intense, world-weary puppy-dog eyes and the panties just slide off of whatever girl he’s working on. And he might work with Fassbender in The Counselor too! OMG.

Photos courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.

During last night’s Superbowl we were treated to a teaser trailer for the upcoming Avengers movie, featuring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L. Jackson. This is the second trailer for the much-anticipated superhero film, which is out on May 4th. The first trailer made the move look more like a clusterf*ck than a coordinated Justice League. (I’m aware that they’re different comics/superheroes.)

They seem to have nailed down the plot in order to come with this more cohesive trailer featuring more scenes of crap getting blown up. This trailer makes the film look more interesting than it did before, but it also has a unreal video game feel that seems all too familiar and overdone. How many movies have we seen with cars exploding and rolling down the street in a wave?

Some thoughts:
They’re very cleverly focusing on all the key parts of the film: the special effects, the individual superheroes played by well known actors, their work as a team, and the pithy one-liners. My favorite part is at :50 when Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is told by baddie Loki (Tom Hiddleston) that “We have an army” and he quips “We have a Hulk.” We then get to see Mark Ruffalo flying through the air as the most badass Hulk I’ve ever seen. Scarlet Johannson is sexy as Black Widow in that tight catsuit, but I like how they’re balancing out the talent in the film and not trying to push her as the star.

The Avengers could be a huge moneymaker for Disney and Marvel or it could be a spectacular flop. Rumor has it that it cost over $250 million to make. Look at what happened with Green Lantern. Warner Brothers really took a bath on that one. Superhero films are no longer the safest bet.

There’s news that Andrew Garfield as Spiderman is going to make a cameo as cross promotion for the new Spidey film, out this July. Can they make the movie work with this many stars? We’ll see.

Photos via Allmoviephoto

By all accounts, Jeremy Renner is a fun dude to hang out with. He became famous when he was well into his 30s, so he spent most of his formative adult years actually living, working, developing opinions and interests, and he actually has stuff to say. He also throws a great party (reportedly) and he likes to hang out in bars, with girls (reportedly). So Jeremy found himself in a bar in Phuket, Thailand with a group of friends. At first, I wondered if Jeremy was in Thailand on some kind of vacation, but his IMDB indicates that he’s currently working on The Bourne Legacy, so they’re probably filming scenes there. Anyway, Renner was at the bar with some friends, and a fight broke out. And somebody got AXED. Seriously.

Jeremy Renner was attacked in Phuket, Thailand in an early morning bar brawl that left one man in serious condition after getting slashed in the neck with a rotor axe.

Thai authorities say Jeremy and his party had been bar hopping and ended up at the club where the violence broke out at 4:30 AM, after hours. One of the men in Jeremy’s party — Vorasit Issara, the General Manager of the Siri Panwa Resort — dropped a glass on the floor and apparently that started the melee.

Six men — who apparently worked at the bar — then allegedly attacked Jeremy, Vorasit and the others in their party. In addition to being stabbed in the neck, Vorasit was stabbed in the stomach with a knife.

One source claims Vorasit was drinking and was in a heated argument with the bar staff immediately before the attack. The six men who attacked Jeremy’s group were arrested.

Jeremy suffered minor injuries.

UPDATE 8:15AM PT: According to his rep, Jeremy left the bar when the fight broke out … and was not injured at all.

[From TMZ]

Hm, that’s interesting that Renner’s rep denied that Renner was injured. I have a hard time believing that Jeremy would walk away from a bar fight, especially if a person in his group was being attacked. Jeremy just seems like the tough little dude who would jump into the middle of the fight and start throwing punches and kicks, insurance liabilities be damned. We’ll see how this story plays out.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last week, my mom called me and said, “I had forgotten that your boyfriend was in the new Mission: Impossible movie!” To which I replied, “Which boyfriend?” Because I have two boyfriends in MI4, and I love them both in different ways, and I kind of love that Tom Cruise and I have the same taste in men (ha!). Jeremy Renner is the hot, weird, amazing little guy, the pocket rocket with the bedroom eyes who… well, I just know he would rock my world. My other boyfriend, Josh Holloway, would also rock my world. So how is Josh different? He’s taller. He has a Southern accent. He’s more traditionally handsome. That being said, I think Renner is the better actor.

So… who would you choose if it came down to going home with Renner or going home with Josh? Yes, Josh is married, but in these little “What if…?” games, we can pretend that he’s not. I actually think that if you were looking for a relationship, you should choose Josh. He seems like the commitment type. If you were just looking for a filthy, enjoyable hookup, go with Jeremy. So… I would choose both. A little from Column A, a little from column B. Jeremy for the hookup, Josh to marry/make babies with.

Anyway, yeah… these are photos from the NYC premiere of Mission: Impossible 4 last night. I could eat Jeremy with a spoon, and Josh looks sexy and dashing as always (although I‘m not loving the salt-and-pepper beard or the length of his hair). I’m also throwing in a photo of Paula Patton in her Emilio Pucci dress, which I really dislike.

PS… Jeremy hasn’t done much to promote MI4, but there is a new interview with him in USA Today – go here to see.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Oh, YES. Jeremy Renner covers the December/January issue of Details Magazine, all to talk about the slew of films he has coming out in the coming months. There’s Misson Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Avengers, and Renner got the coveted Jason Bourne role after Matt Damon left the project. Now… I’m hot for Renner. I think he’s an amazing actor and a compact, sexy little dude. I get that not everyone feels the same way, although those of you not down with the Renner should just prepare yourselves for the Renner explosion coming in the next year. It’s going to be a whole lotta Renner, and I can’t wait. Anyway, you can read the full Details Mag piece here, and I’ve included some highlights. I like Renner’s interviews, by the way. He’s not full of himself, and his success came later in life and he wears his fame with an easy grace.

He loves his dog: He’s religiously unsentimental (“I don’t give a s–t about the past”) and unabashedly devoted to his cream-colored miniature French bulldog, Franklin.

How The Hurt Locker changed his life: “I feel blessed to be working these past 20 years in this business,” Renner says. “But when The Hurt Locker came around, it became another thing. And all it was is opportunity. I’ve been waiting for a role like that for a long time. I wasn’t getting any sign that said, ‘This is gonna turn out amazing for you,’” he says. “I wasn’t super-happy being so poor. Eating on $10 a month—probably not very good for you. But I loved what I was doing. Not every actor gives their life to do this job. Some just do it as a job. Well, it’s my life.”

His side-business renovating houses: “Me and my brother… would tinker around, and then someone would pay us twice what we put into it. So when I walked into an audition, I could just think about: ‘Can I contribute to this movie? If not, f–k it, I’ll go build a house.’ Building a house is like producing a movie. There’s no right way to do it but a lot of wrong ways. You have to be flexible and creative. You have to move fast, be prepared—or it quickly becomes costly. These sound like life lessons. It’s certainly affected how I approach my life.”

Big-budget action films and a diss at Transformers: Armchair casting directors are eager to place him in future Mission: Impossible films, hoping that his character, Brandt, rises from Cruise sidekick to inherit the franchise. Renner’s not so sure. “Other people can think ahead all they want,” he says. “I just focus on the task at hand and try to move on.” Despite the physical fun (and hefty paydays) that comes with big action series, he wants to keep doing the smaller, more personal films he’s always enjoyed. “I’m blessed to have cool roles in these big movies. Because nothing against Transformers, but thank God I don’t have to do a monologue to a robot. I don’t know how Shia, God bless him, does that.”

He’s friends with Charlize Theron & Colin Farrell: “I had to ask Charlize Theron, a very good friend, about going through an Academy Award campaign. She told me to take it moment by moment. Don’t f–king freak out, just have fun.” From his pal Colin Farrell, he learned to look everyone in the eye, treat everyone as an equal, and try not to let the whole nuttiness overwhelm him. “Colin had an interesting trajectory,” he says. “Not too dissimilar to what’s been happening to me, but he was much younger. He had five movies come out in one year. He exploded, then sort of imploded. One night I was talking with him—mind you, with some drinks in us—and he said, ‘I look at it this way: I could f–king always go back to Ireland and drink my f–king Guinness anytime.’ I hold on to that.”

Work is vacation: “This is the vacation. Work is trying to get a damned job. I skip to set every day.”

Tom Cruise on Renner: “Here he is, he’s a musician, he’s interested in design, he’s got a curiosity about life, and he’s just, in every way, an incredible dramatic actor.” For good measure, Cruise adds, Renner is “dynamic and an amazing athlete and very graceful with his action… A funny thing happened when we were shooting in Dubai,” Cruise says. He discovered that Renner has a little jig he does when he gets nervous, a spazzy little dance to loosen himself up. “I can’t even describe the Renner Stretch. He’s got a copyright on the Renner Stretch. I laughed so hard when he did it for me. I said this has gotta go in this movie. I said you gotta show [director Brad] Bird. You gotta show Bird! It’s gotta go in right before this tunnel sequence we do. So it’s in the movie. I don’t think I could do the Renner Stretch justice, but he’s an actor who’s not afraid to do that and go there.”

On dating: “I never dated, because I couldn’t afford to date. I didn’t even have electricity. You try to put a positive spin on it, like, ‘Hey, this is so sexy—look at all these candles!’ But I loved what I was doing. The sacrifices I made in personal relationships had the biggest effect on my life. Even now, any woman would take a No. 2 seat to my job.” His longest relationship lasted five and a half years. That was in his twenties. Marriage was off the table because he couldn’t see himself as a solid provider. Or, as he puts it, “‘What the hell are you doing next week, motherf–ker, let alone 40 years from now? And are you willing to wipe my ass when we get old?’

He’s not seeing anyone now: “There’ve been a handful of girls over the last years. But it’s been very difficult. How does it go any further? I have a wonderful life, but it means nothing if it cannot be shared. That’s all I’m missing right now. It’s a little unbalanced for me. Right now the only thing consistent in my life is that little dog. That’s why I got it. I was getting really lonely. I needed somebody or something to be there with me through the whole journey.”

[From Details]

And yes, when asked directly about the gay rumors, Renner denies it, saying he doesn’t “pay attention to that horses–t.” At first I thought his comments on his lack of a dating life were oddly pronoun-free, but then he started talking about girls. I don’t know… at this point, I do buy that he’s straight. That’s mostly wishful thinking, though, because I love him so much.

Photos courtesy of Details.

The cast of The Avengers covers this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly in a wholly bizarre manner. Robert Downey Jr. (as always) fares well in his Tony Stark persona; Scarlett Johansson wields two guns as Black Widow but appears to be missing her shoulders; Chris Hemsworth looks more like Fabio on the cover of a Harlequin romance novel than Thor; Chris Evans (who, sadly, isn’t flashing his waxed nipples) seems ready to burst into tears; and I’m not exactly sure whether Mark Ruffalo knows that his Bruce Banner character is supposed to be, you know, an angry man. What really trips me out though is the amount of Photoshopping that’s been applied to Jeremy Renner’s face — he looks more like a Hawkeye action figure than the real life counterpart. Such a waste. EW has also released a few tidbits from its cover story:

The whole enterprise is falling apart. Egos, tempers, uneasy alliances and bad attitudes are threatening the group, and failure would be catastrophic. Luckily, we’re talking about the actual team of superheroes in the Marvel Studios movie The Avengers, not the cast and crew. In this week’s issue, EW takes a deep dive into the May 4, 2012 movie that will finally unite Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Chris Evans’ Captain America – along with Mark Ruffalo’s The Incredible Hulk, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow — on the big screen. We use the word “unite” loosely. “Just because they’re super heroes doesn’t mean they’re super friends,” says Renner.

It was a different story with the cast and crew: If anything, they got along too well. Far from home on the Albuquerque set, they had little to do except hang out together, maybe hit a Motley Cruë concert, or go dancing with writer-director Joss Whedon, who says he knew “every dance club in Albuquerque.” Whedon was actually counting on a little bit of friction, since there’s so much in the actual story. “I was like, well, if they hate each other, I guess we can use that,” he shrugs. “But they don’t.”

When he wasn’t out dancing, Whedon was obsessively rewriting dialogue. On the Iron Man movies, Downey was notorious for pushing for heat-of-the-moment script punch-ups (or as he puts it: “I dominated like a rabid, horny gorilla”). And even as part of an ensemble in Avengers, he still nudged Whedon to go a little farther in some scenes. The day EW was on set, Whedon (the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the acclaimed Astonishing X-Men comic book series) was scribbling out new pages of dialogue right before our eyes. Says the director, “There is a weird element of: they handed me one of the biggest movies of all time, and I’m making it up as I go.”

[From Popwatch]

The box office for this movie is going to be phenomenal, and the careers of everyone (except maybe Renner and RDJ, who are already doing quite well in their other acting endeavors) involved will receive a much-needed boost. Mostly though, the actor who will benefit most from The Avengers is Scarlett. Until she signed on (for a relatively measly $400,000 paycheck) as Black Widow in Iron Man 2, her career had turned into a series of failed period dramas, romcoms, and whatever Woody Allen happened to be filming at the time. Now, she’s part of a superhero franchise. Who would have ever thought it was possible?

Now let’s return to gazing upon (Kaiser already brought you an initial batch) some set photos from The Avengers scenes that shot in New York City early this month.

Photos courtesy of WENN

These are photos from Friday and the weekend, where the cast of The Avengers were filming scenes in New York City. So… these superheroes exist in the real world. And they’re in NYC? Sure. Let’s see if I can properly identify everyone. Chris Hemsworth is Thor, the dude with the cape and the hammer. Scarlett Johansson is Black Widow, introduced in the second Iron Man movie. Jeremy Renner is Hawkeye, a superhero I don’t know anything about. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his Tony Stark/Ironman role, and Mark Ruffalo has come on board as The Hulk, correct? There’s also Nick Fury running around somewhere, but meh on him.

Out of everybody, who rocks your boat more? I always like RDJ in his Tony Stark gear, because I feel like RDJ has brought his own fancy, stylish idiosyncrasy to Stark. But if I could choose to spend some time with just one of these dudes, it would probably be Hawkeye/Renner. I like the way Renner is rocking his tight black pants (are they jeggings?!?!?) and leather vest. It could come across as “Village Person” but Renner somehow makes it look butch. Plus, I like the way he’s carrying his bow. That’s a man with a plan.

UPDATE: OMG, did I forget Captain America? He was there too.

I guess I should say something about ScarJo… in these shots, her hair looks decent, unlike the last time we saw her. Plus, she’s lost weight and her catsuit/jumper thing looks good. Basically, she looks like she’s recovering from Sean Penn. Maybe she’s getting some Renner action? I wouldn’t hate them as a couple.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

We have to start with the caveat that Renner is not playing Jason Bourne, he’s playing another lead assassin spy character so that they can continue this successful franchise without relying on Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass. Greengrass had some issues with Universal after going way over budget for The Green Zone. Damon is loyal to Greengrass, and while he’s vacillated on whether he’ll do another Bourne movie his latest comments have him leaving the door open as long as Greengrass comes back to direct. So that hasn’t happened yet and they need to get the ball rolling on this sequel reboot nonsense so they can cash in on the Bourne name.

We’ve heard casting rumors for a while, including that Shia “mommy issues” Labeouf was in talks for the alterna-Bourne role. Thank goodness that’s not happening. We now have confirmation of the rumor that Jeremy Renner is the new lead:

The search is over. Universal Pictures has formally offered Jeremy Renner the lead role in the Tony Gilroy-directed The Bourne Legacy. Renner, who has been nominated for Oscars the past two years for his work in The Hurt Locker and The Town, is expected to sign on quickly to play a new character in the spinoff film that begins production in September. Like the Jason Bourne character played by Matt Damon in the first three The Bourne Identity thrillers, Renner will play an operative from a covert government program that is even more dangerous than the Treadstone brainwashing program that hatched Bourne.

Renner was one of the names rumored as the studio went through two cycles of tests over eight weeks to find the right guy. That decision was made today. Even though Renner plays an operative in the upcoming Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, the studio felt clearly that he was in a position similar to where Damon was when his career took off with Bourne. Renner is not a kid, but he is really hitting his stride and poised to become a big star after numerous strong performances.

[From Deadline]

As Kaiser wrote when she first covered this rumor, the series is named Bourne. It’s about one character, that’s his last name (his new last name) and yet somehow they’re putting some other spy in there and giving us a spinoff. How are they going to present that? They’re going to need to be creative about branding and making Renner’s character into his own kick-ass guy. That said, he’s a great choice. He’s can easily show the same kind of dual humanity and “take no prisoners” persona that Damon embodies because he’s a fabulous actor. He won’t fill Damon’s shoes though, and it’s a good thing they’re not trying to do that. It’s going to be a bitch to try and do justice to this incredible series with a fourth movie and a new character, but I hope they at least try.

Jeremy Renner is shown on 2/27/11 at the VF Oscar Party. Credit: WENN and Fame. Bourne photos via AllMoviePhoto

Jason Bourne is not amused.

Hey, remember that actor-turned-Unibomber-twin, Joaquin Phoenix? Well, he’s looking to officially end that “retirement” phase from a few years ago and has already sought to make amends by apologizing to David Letterman, but he has yet to secure any real acting work after he and Casey Affleck gave the finger to the world with I’m Still Here. Now, Phoenix is said to be circling a project that’s unofficially called The Master (but is still officially untitled) and will be directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who previously helmed an amazingly horrific tale of greed in There Will Be Blood. If Phoenix signs on, he’ll endear himself to the world with an anti-Scientology message:

Joaquin Phoenix, who hasn’t acted since his “retirement” that precipitated I’m Still Here, is in early talks to join Philip Seymour Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama.

Anderson is directing from his own original script, which chronicles a disaffected disciple’s relationship with the founder of a new faith that closely mirrors Scientology.

Hoffman will play Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic intellectual known as The Master, while Phoenix would play Freddie Sutton, an alcholic drifter who becomes his right-hand man only to begin questioning his manipulative mentor.

[From Variety]

This would be a very interesting development in Phoenix’s career and might possibly put him on the path of redemption after that notorious Casey Affleck mockumentary. It must also be noted that Joaquin grew up as a member of the Children of God “movement,” which undoubtedly gave him plenty of life experience from which to draw concerning the mindset of cult members. Slashfilm notes that Joaquin’s prospective role was originally to be played by Jeremy Renner, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and also (and this is key) because he joined Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Naturally, Renner couldn’t join a Tom Cruise film while still intending to act within an anti-Scientology film, right? This is a slightly disappointing realization about Renner, who is truly a talented actor and an all-around likeable guy, so if the CO$ truly gets their claws into him … the gloves come off.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

A month ago, the rumor going around Hollywood was that Shia LaBeouf was the “leading contender” to take over the Jason Bourne role in some kind of Bourne-series reboot or reimagining. Most of you were disgusted with the idea of Shia the pipsqeak taking over a role that had redefined Matt Damon’s career, and a role that Damon had made his own so completely. Well… there’s some good news. No one is talking about Shia anymore. This month’s “leading contender” is Jeremy Renner! Jeremy is all of four months younger than Matt Damon (and Renner actually looks older than Damon), so this idea of a reboot is seeming more and more sketchy. That being said, I like Renner, and I could see him in this kind of role. It’s not a done deal, although some sites are reporting that Renner has been offered the part.

Jeremy Renner is reportedly Universal’s top choice to star in ‘The Bourne Legacy’, a film that writer/director Ton Gilroy says is not a franchise reboot. Just last week there was a total of six up-and-coming actors shortlisted as potentials to headline The Bourne Legacy for Universal Pictures. Now word has gotten out that the studio is prepped to send out an offer to star in the spinoff sequel to none other than the seemingly ubiquitous, multiple Oscar-nominee, Jeremy Renner.

To clarify that last comment: Renner is currently working on Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, will be starring alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol this winter, and is already set to become Hawkeye in next year’s The Avengers.

While Bourne 4 shares its name with Eric Van Lustbader’s 2004 novel, Bourne Legacy will be an original creation penned and directed by Bourne Ultimatum co-screenwriter Tony Gilroy. The project is described as not being a requel (a rebooting sequel, that is) but instead a story set within the Bourne-verse that involves a new government agent/assassin – and would allow for Matt Damon to return as Jason Bourne in a fifth film, if he desires.

Renner… is apparently the man Universal prefers for Bourne Legacy – and despite his involvement with multiple big franchise titles arriving over the next two years, Renner’s schedule should allow him to appear in the Bourne flick if he so chooses. Expect to hear an official announcement on that matter in the very near future.

[From Screen Rant]

I don’t really understand the concept of this fourth Bourne film. It’s not a reboot, it’s not a reimagining, it’s not an “origin-story”. It’s like they’re going to get Renner (or whoever) to play an entirely new character, but they’re still going to call the series part of Bourne franchise, and have Bourne in the title? Very sketchy.

Here are some photos of Renner with newly dark hair, filming Hansel and Gretel in Germany last week:

Photos courtesy of Fame.